After a successful campaign in which the Detroit Lions established themselves as one of the best teams in the NFL thanks to a 12-5 record during the regular season, a whopping seven players from the team managed to earn Pro Bowl nods.
Those seven were wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, running back Jahmyr Gibbs, tight end Sam LaPorta, center Frank Ragnow, right tackle Penei Sewell, edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson and linebacker Jalen Reeves-Maybin.
Of those seven, four of them (Gibbs, LaPorta, Hutchinson and Reeves-Maybin) were first-time Pro Bowlers, which got us thinking about the Lions players who have the best shot to earn their first nod in 2024. Here's a look at three.
Lions' potential first-time Pro Bowlers
RB David Montgomery
Despite splitting work with Jahmyr Gibbs and missing three games, Montgomery still managed to finish with 1,015 rushing yards on the season, the ninth-most in the NFL, and he scored a whopping 13 touchdowns, tied for fifth-most.
Gibbs is expected to have a bigger role in 2024, but that will likely come in the form of being more involved in the passing game. If Montgomery can play a full season, he can be a top-five rusher en route to a Pro Bowl.
DL Alim McNeill
McNeill is coming off a breakout season in which he tallied career-highs in sacks (five), QB hits (10) and run defense grade (79.3), and his six tackles for loss matched his career-high, also.
Aaron Donald's retirement opens up a Pro Bowl spot that had been earmarked for the last 10 seasons. McNeill has a great chance to build on his success, especially now that he has D.J. Reader next to him. If that comes to fruition, he could very well take Donald's spot.
LB Alex Anzalone
Anzalone has been a good linebacker for years now, but the 2024 campaign has the potential to be his best now that the Lions have beefed up the defense, both in front and behind him — and that's something Anzalone believes, also, according to Tim Twentyman of DetroitLions.com.
"I know playbook-wise it's changed a little bit. In the backend were able to do a few different things as far as relying on them to cover their guy and that obviously affects linebackers," Anzalone said. "We can play a little bit more aggressive and not have to help out zone drop, and you can match a little bit more, which is when you make more plays in the pass game. As a linebacker, it helps."
Anzalone is coming off a season in which he totaled career-highs in sacks (three) and tackles (129), and matched his career-best in tackles for loss (seven). If the veteran is indeed freed up to do more with the added help around him, Anzalone could improve those numbers en route to a Pro Bowl campaign.
